Automatic water injector for steam-engine boilers



" Feb. 24, 1925.

R. E. JAMES AUTOMATIC WATER INJECTOR FOR STEAM ENGINE BOILERS Filed May27, 1924 gin/vento@ Patented Feb. 24, 1925.

ROBERT' E. JAMES, or DURANT, OKLAHOMA.

.AUTOMATIC WATER INJECTOR FOR STEAM-ENGINE BOILERS.

Application filed May 27, 1924. Serial No. 716,242.

T0 all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT E. JAMES, a citizen of the United States,residing at Durant, in the county of Bryan and State of Oklahoma, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic WaterInjectors for Steam-Engine Boilers, of which the following is aspecification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to injectors lfor steam engine boilers, and theobject of the invention is to provide automatically acting means forkeeping the boiler filled with water to a predetermined point above thelower gauge cocks thereof or at any desired height below the uppermostgauge cock, the mechanism comprising means whereby steam may be takenfrom the boiler just above the water line of the uppermost gauge cockand sent through an injector to thereby draw water upward from the watersupply and force the water into the boiler, the construction being suchthat when the water rises above its predetermined water line it will cutolf passage of steam through the injector and thus the flow of waterwill stop, and when the water falls below this r predetermined waterline the injector will immediately commence to act to force water intothe boiler.

A further object is to provide a construction of this character which isvery simple, which may be easily put in place without altering thecharacter of the boiler at all, and which permits the boiler to bereadily altered to conform to the invention.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein Figure1 is a side elevation of a boiler of any ordinary type having myautomatic water feeding mechanism applied thereto;

Figure 2 is an enlarged elevation of the feeding device and a portion ofthe boiler.

Referring to the drawing, 10 designates a boiler, such as a stationaryboiler, though the invention is adaptedv to be applied to any boiler,and 11 the steam dome. 12 designates the fire box and 13 the frontboiler sheet. Entering the front boiler sheet are a vertical series ofgauge cocks of any usual and suitable construction and designated 14, 15and 16. These are ordinarily found on engines of this character todetermine the level of the water in the boiler and these gauge cocksenable the operator to keep either one, two or three gauges7 of water asdesired, but the operator must keep a close watch on the gauges in orderto do so.

Disposed in connection with the boiler is an injector 17 of any ordinaryor usual type having the supply pipe 18 and the pipe 19 which extendsinto the boiler and through which the water is forced. This injectorordinarily is connected to the steam dome by a pipe extending upwardfrom the injec tor and entering the top of the steam dome. This pipe isdesignated 2O and is provided with a valve 21.

Se far I have described the ordinary construction of steam boiler withthe injector therefor, but in order to reconstruct the boiler inaccordance with my invention and place my automatic gauge in position itis necessary to remove the ordinary gauge as, for instance, the gauge 16and place thereon a nipple and a T 22. The gauge 16 'is then placed backinto the T and a pipe 24 is connected to the T and leads back to theinjector through a T 25. The T 22 is provided with a valve 26, and inorder to use the injector as now arranged` it is necessary to close thevalve 21 in the steam line 2O and open valve 26.

In order to fill the boiler for over night in case the boiler is notbeing operated at night and in which case the boiler is to be filledalmost full of water and before firing up, then the valve 26 is closedand the valve 21 opened and the steam from the steam dome will actthrough the injector in the ordinary manner to draw water from the pipe18 and force the water through the pipe 19 into the boiler, but in caseit is desired merely to fill the boiler to a height equal to theuppermost gauge, then the valve 21 is closed and the valve 26 is opened.So long as the water line is below a predetermined point, that is belowthe gauge 16, the steam from the boiler will pass through the gauge andout through the pipe 24.- into the injector and thus cause the waterfrom the pipe 18 to be discharged into the boiler, but when the waterhas risen to such a point that it prevents the passage of steam from theinterior of the boiler into the gauge 16, then the feeding of steam tothe injector is cut olf because the water is above the steam intake andthe injector stops in its operation. When the water has lowered,however, belowr the gauge cock 16, the steam intake will beautomatically opened and steam will pass into the injector and start itworking again and thus the water in the boiler will be kept at aconstant height.

Where this device is used it is not necessary to keep a man at theboiler when tiring in oil. The re is regulated to a certain height andthe injector is turned on. After that it is perfectly sate to leave theboiler alone, as there will never be any lack ot water in the boilerbecause of the automatic operation of this construction.

It will be seen that with this device the boiler does not have to befilled entirely full and kept entirely full, but that it may be kept ata predetermined height equal to that particular gauge cock to which thepipe 24: is connected. Thus it' the connection is made at the topmostgauge, the boiler will carry three gauges oi water, if at the secondgauge it will carry two gauges of water, and, of course, if the member24- communi- Cates with the lowermost gauge cock the water will remainat this level at all times and be automatically controlled. rIliisdevice is made to tit on any style of boiler but is particularly adaptedfor boilers used in the oil ields and which are tired by means ot' oil.It will be obvious, however, that the device may work on any form otboiler as, 'for instance, on a railroad locomotive boiler.y though it isparticularly intended for use on all kinds of stationary boilers. Byretaining the pipe 2O and its connection to the top of the steam dome,it is obvious that the boiler may be entirely filled with water wheneverdesired by the use of the inj ecting valves but that, on the other hand,the boiler may be kept tilled to the uppermost gauge automatically andwithout requiring any attention.

I do not wish to be limited to the details ot construction, as it isobvious that these might be varied in many ways without departing Jfromthe spirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. In a steam boiler of the character described, the combination with aninjector for supplying the boiler with feed water, of a series or gaugecocks extending through the front of the boiler and disposed in verticalseries, and a. steam supply pipe for said injector having its inlet endengaged with one ot said gauge cocks.

2. In a steam boiler having a steam dome, the combination with aninjector for supplying the boiler with feed water, ot' a. steam supplypipefor said injector having its inlet opening into the steam dome, amanuals ly operable valve in the supply pipe, a second steam supplypipe, a manually operable valve in said supply pipe, and a gauge cockextending through the liront of the boiler and to which the steam supplypipe is connected whereby to cause the admission or steam through saidgauge cock to the injector when the level of the water has lowered belowthe gauge cock and the stop page ot' the steam 'tlow to the injectorwhen the level of the water has risen above the gauge cock.

3. In a boiler having a steam dome and having a vertical series of gaugecocks extending to the front of the boiler, an injector7 means torsupplying water to the injector' including a pipe extending upward 'fromthe injector and into the steam dome, said pipe being provided with amanually operable valve, a T connected to one oiI the gauge cocks, and apipe connection extending Jfrom said 'i' to the injector and providedwith a valve whereby to permit the lirst named supply pipe to be cutott' and the second named pipe opened to thereby automatically hold thewater pipe level with the gauge coc-k and automatically operate theinjector when the water falls below the level oi" the gauge cock.

In testimony whereot I hereunto aiiix my signature.

ROBERT E. JAMES.

